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I’m disappointed in this year’s P.O.P.P. entries. Not in the children, not in the schools or teachers, but what is happening in education. We are not attending to the need to encourage and develop creativity in our students.

Katherine and I saw it when we went to the schools. Teachers who accompanied their classes to our mini pep rally for the most part were disinterested in what we were saying. Most of the teachers’ faces told us they were passive, somewhere else, not with us. Most likely their minds were grappling with the day to day challenges of their chosen career:

“How will my students be ready for the high stakes tests?”

“I have all that paper work to fill out that has to be in tomorrow.”

“Do I have the forms completed that are due today?”

‘What is the “contest” I don’t have time to do what I have to do now.”

The teachers weren’t enthusiastic. They may not have even heard us. How could the children get excited? Parents and teachers are the elementary student’s primary models.

We told the children that their teachers would have them reading and writing a lot of poetry during November. That was our contract. The teachers were to be our partners in exposing the children to a genre that provides a vehicle for sharing feelings and humor among other things; a vehicle for developing creativity. I don’t believe that happened. The selection we have this year could have been achieved if we went to a park, gave kids a pencil and paper, and asked them to write a poem.

I’ve written before about the negative effects that I observed happening during the end of my career. No Child Left Behind and the emphasis placed on high stakes testing, primarily in literacy and math, were having an opposite effect on a well rounded education. While not the intent, creativity was being shoved to the back of the class. I’m curious how the new “STEM” movement will impact creativity. I’m all for STEM but science, technology, engineering, and math will not thrive without giving our students ample opportunities to use their imaginations and expand their creativity. Einstein stated, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world.”* If you can’t dream it, you’ll never look for it.

Since the time of the early Greek Philosophers, we have known the importance of a well rounded education. Attention was equally paid to math, science, humanities, physical education. But look at the funding and time devoted to all these areas in your local school, are all of those areas provided for in an equitable manner? My guess is no.

The idea that attention to the arts has to diminish higher achievement and scores in literacy (basically reading and writing) and math is silly. Throughout my career as a science teacher, I was privileged to be able to engage in teaching the way I felt my students needed. Our studies mainly focused on project based curricula. Time and again, I saw students who were marginal performers in terms of tests in math, reading, and writing delve into the projects. They were reading and doing calculations for a purpose in the project. I didn’t have to drill them to death on how to take a test or the basics of the math and reading. They found out that reading, math, geographical understandings, and historical contexts were necessary tools for understanding their project problem. And you know what? Their scores began to rise on tests used to determine achievement. They created models and posters, they wrote brochures and poems, they engaged in constructive argumentation. They proposed solutions to problems.

I had a 7th grade student who used Legos ™ to build a model vehicle for Martian explorations for a competition my kids were involved with (he won a trip to Space Camp). Less than a year later, I was reading a popular science magazine. A brief article described a vehicle that was being developed for Martian explorations – the Martian Rover. It was eerily similar in design to what he had developed.

Students were discovering that there were skills and knowledge required to open up doors of understanding to their world. They didn’t HAVE TO LEARN, they NEEDED TO LEARN. There’s a difference.

My plea is let teachers teach. Allow them to use their energy on what’s important – their students. Release them from extraneous paper work and duties. Let them rediscover how exciting and effective it can be when their students create.

I’ve been put to shame. Last weekend, I had the privilege of judging entries in flash fiction for the the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. The program, almost a hundred years in existence, solicits and awards the efforts of young writers and artists in seventh through twelfth grades. Some notables who were recognized throughout the program’s history are:

Truman Capote (1932)

Andy Warhol (ca. 1945)

Sylvia Plath (1947)

And even Robert Redford (1954) and Zac Posen (1998)

While a range of student writing abilities were observed, I was blown away by many of the entries. These young people demonstrated an incredible talent for building a compelling story within the constraints of flash fiction. Their skill and creativity assures me a number of them will provide me with reading companions in a not too distant future.

Why am I ashamed? Well, they most certainly devoted a significant amount of time to writing in order to produce the fine work that they did. I do not.

I am reminded everywhere that if I want to write, I have to devote the time to writing. Stephen King’s OnWriting bluntly tells me that if I don’t give the time – then don’t write;among many good tips I’m given in my critique groups, from Bob M. among others, I’m nagged about not making the time for writing; and every little webinar or article I read chastises me for my lack of commitment to the time needed to build this craft. I’m amazed at how I can ignore all of that and fall back on my well stocked hoard of excuses.

After all, I have spent most of my adult life making those excuses

1) When I was raising kids on my own and working full-time: “I want to write but when am I supposed to find the time?”

2) When my kids were older and I was working full-time: “I write all the time, scenarios for my students’ science investigations, education journal articles,… Just when am I going to get time for creative writing for me?”

3) My kids are raised, I’m retired working part-time: “I want to write but I have this big house that’s a mess. When am I supposed to have time to write?

J.D. Salinger – failed at being an apprentice in a Polish slaughter house (so he could go into the family business). He came back to America and worked as an activities director on a Caribbean cruise line.

3) Really?Take a look around – I still see a big mess.

Recently, on-line, I read an article by Joseph Finder*, a prolific writer and author of The Fine Art of Feedback. The title of the article? Just Write the Damned Book Already.

“Okay, Joseph, I hear ya’,” Judy said hopefully.“

(Sorry, Mr. King, about the adverb. But I did say “said” instead of “acquiesced”. Can I get points for that?)

Watching struggling floral buds battling to overcome the unending winter has always been one of my favorite prophesies of spring’s arrival. Another joyous event that spring is near is our annual Power of Poetry Project (P.O.P.P.) celebration. P.O.P.P. is an opportunity for school children in fourth and fifth grades to compete in poetry writing.

As a teacher during the push towards No Child Left Behind and high stakes testing, I had been very concerned with educational initiatives that through intent or misinterpretation seem to push creativity to the background of importance. So in 2010, when Sharon Palmeri invited me to join a committee to begin a project to promote students’ writing creativity, I eagerly agreed. The project, under the Indiana Writers’ Consortium initiatives, has become an annual event that promotes creativity through children creating poems.

Reading the poems fills me with so much joy and pride. We on the committee are so privileged to hear through the poems how children interpret their world. We enter their world to share their joys and tears, laugh with them about things that are silly, and share the beauty of life through a child’s eyes. Our most difficult task is choosing those that will receive awards.

The winning poems are published in a book. Our awards are significant. I wanted to be sure that this academic adventure rivals the athletic competitions in terms of showy awards and they do. The event is also an extremely rewarding experience for us. Observing children who are so proud of the recognition that they are getting for their creative endeavors makes the hours of work in writing the grant for funding, sorting through the hundreds and hundreds of poems, organizing the notifications and awards, and preparing for the event worthwhile. And we know we are helping them understand the importance of creativity in their lives.

Thursday is our celebration. I’m adding a page to the blog that has some P.O.P.P. artifacts. I will share some photos and some of the poems children have written. I think you will enjoy looking at the samples of children’s creativity.

As I said, P.O.P.P. is one of the signs for me of spring days ahead. It also assures me that we, along with parents and teachers, have had a little part in encouraging creativity in our children. As an avid reader and lover of fiction and poetry, I know that the future bed of poets and authors is being seeded.

It is pretty obvious that I will never receive the “blogger of the year” award. My resolution to blog at least once a month has withered, I’ve missed February. Aging is an interesting process. One element is how very quickly time passes. However, for the two or three of you who like sharing my blogs. I will be back more regularly. Thanks